Earlier this month, North Carolina lawmakers granted Governor McCrory’s request to divert $500K from the state’s disaster relief fund to help him defend HB2.
Better known as NC’s “bathroom bill”, HB2, in addition to other discriminatory measures, forbids people from using bathrooms that don’t match the gender on their birth certificates. When Department of Justice called the bill a violation if the Civil Rights Act, Governor McCrory responded with a lawsuit.
However, according to Think Progress, North Carolina’s Attorney General Roy Cooper has no intention of defending a bill he sees as broadly discriminatory and a “national embarassment,” which has left McCrory having to seek “outside counsel.”
To help pay legal expenses, say several sources, McCrory asked NC Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Harry Brown (R) to take money from the state’s disaster fund, and the Republican-dominated Senate and House approved.
But is this dipping into the state’s disaster relief fund legal? And with hurricane season upon us, should the governor be diverting disaster funds even if it is?
According to NC state statute 166A-19.40, the governor has the authority to use disaster funds only for emergencies as defined by § 166A-19.3. Sign this petition to ask Attorney General Cooper to investigate the legality of McCrory using disaster funds to defend his bathroom bill.
To North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper:
As an NC coastal resident who has lived through several natural disasters, including Floyd, I am writing with concerns about the legality of Governor McCrory’s use of state disaster funds for anything other than the emergencies for which they are designated to provide relief.
[Your Comments]
Aside from the questionable constitutional legality of HB2 and the logistics of carrying out a law that seems to require people to allow inspection of their birth certificates before using public bathrooms, there are concerns about the legality of using state disaster funds to defend this new, controversial law.
Based on the wording in North Carolina General Statutes, emergency funds are to be used either for emergencies or preparation for emergencies. I can find no provision in the law that gives either the governor or the General Assembly authority to take money from this fund to cover legal fees.
Even though supporters of the bathroom bill are promoting it as a “public safety” bill, there is nothing about this issue that meets the statute’s definition of an “emergency.”
Therefore I, the undersigned, ask you to investigate the legality of McCrory’s use of monies diverted from the state’s disaster relief fund for anything other than an emergency.
Thanks for you time
[Your Name]
